of Dragons and Daedra
by BlakDawn
Summary: Skyrim: a place of turmoil, a place of change, but even now forces conspire to unleash utter devastation, then a woman wakes up on a one way trip to Helgen, and everything changes. rated T for now may move to M, some strong language.
1. Chapter one 'pain'

**change log: added the prologue to the top of the first chapter.**

Of Dragons and Daedra

prologue 'the darkness encompassing'

The leather helmet is light in my hands, runes on the surface glow and I can feel the power rippling around it. Arrayed around me The Group watch in interest

"well?" said Jonil "is it ready?"

"perhaps" I reply, the culmination of months of preparation, of stealth and of danger, yet despite that, despite the days I had driven my self to exhaustion creating the spells, I was no longer sure, it was an...odd feeling, perhaps brought on by the enormity of what was going to happen.

I sat down and the manacles clasped around my arms and legs and Gaeni looped a strip of leather around my eyes, blinding me to the world, and to them, slowly I lifted the helm above my head

_OrinamisEbinsLeapJanbirVeatorOrrginalmz_

the words flashed through my head, a jumbled assortment of memories to go with them, but it is to late, I place the helm on my head and

* * *

In the shadows, closely watching, desperately hearing I knew all, Alduin was to be tricked, my lord, glorious Destruction, was not to be broken, not before _betrayer_, whisperer of dishonour, was dead. coldly watch, important as passages north, to listen, to understand, Alduin my lord, uniform magnificence would take his place. Mortal tricks, shallow and low, would not stop Alduin, my lord, terrible vengeance.

Of Dragons and Daedra

Chapter One 'Know without Remembering'

_Cold, Dark, Moving _three words flashed through my mind without permission, chased on their way by the multitude of questions that unceremoniously rushed to the front of my head

Where am I?

What am I doing here?

Who am I?

What's going to to happen?

How did I get here?

All I remember before waking up is, leather? A group? Nothing, the memories dance out of my reach, and like so many things the harder I try to remember the faster they slip away, replaced by only one thought

_Majolir_

A place? A name? It feels unfamiliar, cold, but it is incessant, hammering away, scouring even the half forgotten memories, it's almost physically painful, I groaned out loud, so they hadn't gagged me, good.

My yes flicker open, and then close again, the brightness was overwhelming, a combination of my lack of exposure, and what was suspiciously like snow reflecting the light

_Skyrim_

The thought is not my own, but it is not alien, a comforting, and yet uncomforting thought, then I listened to the word Skyrim, there is something, something dangerous to these thoughts, plans and intrigue, and then in an instant it's gone again. Hesitantly I crack open my left eye again, the light was less blinding this time and I risk opening both eyes, taking in my situation.

I was in a cart, with three others, all men, one of the left

_throw off the cart_

one in front

_knee to the balls _

and one to his left, my right

_charge, knock both off, grab rear guard, pull off, on horse, escape_

I paused, I hadn't even realised that half of my thoughts weren't my own and what I thought, apparently completely obviously, was terrifying, I shivered, which must have attracted the attention of the man in front of me, who looked at me curiously

"hey, you, you're finally awake" his voice was rough, in keeping with the Nord tradition he was huge, I was a

_Breton_

which meant that the height difference was much bigger than it would have been...

shit that voice interrupted me again and I didn't even realise it

I then realised that he was staring much more intently, and I knew I had been silent for too long, I opened my mouth to speak, to say something, anything, but nothing came out, not even the other voice, so I settled for a quick nod, it looked like that was the signal he needed to continue

"you were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there" he glanced across at the man on the same bench, who while still bearing a Nord's traditional mass and height seemed to be trying to make himself as small as possible

_Nord should not be thieves, instead warrior, well suited_

I opened my mouth to refute him, I hadn't walked into the ambush I had...what had I done? The story seemed wrong somehow, I knew in my heart that wasn't how I had been captured, but I didn't know how to put it, the man, this Nord, seemed so confident I went with him, with a shrug.

"you have a name, stranger?"

I opened my mouth, and that name

_Majolir_

was all that came to me, like a waterfall crushing me until I surrendered

"Majolir" he nodded, almost like he expected it

_didn't he?_

"Ralof" he offered in return, I managed a quick quirk of my lips in response

a small lull gave the thief a change to talk "damn you storm-cloaks, Skyrim was fine until you came along, empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn't been looking for you I could have stolen that horse and been half way to Hamerfell" he then turned his attention from Ralof to me "you there"

"Majolir" I spoke my name, my _name, _again.

he ignored me and continued as though I hadn't spoken "you and me, we shouldn't be here, it's these storm-cloaks the empire wants"

"we're all brothers...and sister, in binds now thief" he glanced at me for a second as he said sister, like I should know something

"shut up back there" my gaze snapped to the soldier driving he wagon, he had evidently grown tired of our bickering, so we settled down into silence, I cast my eyes around, the man next to me was staring into the trees that lined the road, which come to think about it, were growing sparser, and now that Ralof and the thief were not talking I could hear the sounds of a town.

After a small reverie the thief glanced at the man next to me and said "what's up with him?"

"watch your tongue, you're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true high king" Ulfric, that name was familiar, somehow, though I didn't know why

_no, you shouldn't_

that explained...wait that bloody voice, where was it coming from, and how did it know these things?

I returned my attention back to reality, just in time to see the thief pale further, if such a thing was possible

"Ulfric, Jarl of Windhelm? You're the leader of the rebellion, but if they captured you... oh gods where are they taking us?"

"I don't know where we're going, but Sovngarde awaits" Ralof spoke in a quiet tone

By now the thief was in a panic "no, this can't be happening, this isn't happening"

"hey what village are you from?" Ralof directed his question to the horse thief, who looked back at him for a moment before responding

"why do you care?"

"a Nord's last thoughts should be of home"

"Rorikstead, I'm...I'm from Rorikstead"

"General Tullius, Sir" an imperial voice interrupted us, and I realised to my dismay that I been so caught up thinking and listening that I didn't realise we were practically in a town "the headsman is waiting" headsman, they were going to execute us...me!

"Good let's get this over with" another voice answered the first

as we entered the town the horse thief began muttering to himself "Shor, Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Akatosh, Divines please help me"

_fool, they would not save their own_

"look at him, General Tullius, the military governor, and it looks like the Thalmor are with him, damn elves" General Tullius at least I could see, the General's armour is always easy to spot, and presumably the Thalmor was the other figure of horseback, though I could only see their back, I bet they had something to do with this"

_no_

Ralof looked around and took in the village "this is Helgen, I used to be sweet on a girl from here, I wonder if Vilod is still making that mead with Juniper berries" It was obvious that he was trying to distract himself from what was to come "funny, when I was a boy, imperial walls and towers used to make me feel so safe"

as we pulled into a small open area in front of one of the aforementioned towers, a young voice spoke behind me "who are they daddy? Where are they going?" these were both excellent questions, ones I had not answered myself

"let's go inside"

"why, I wanna watch the soldiers"

"inside the house, now"

"Yes, papa" the child must have gone inside, based on the sound of the door slamming shut.

We came to a stop and the thief looked around, fearful "why are we stopping?"

"why do you think? end of the line" He looked back at me "let's go, shouldn't keep the gods waiting for us"

"no wait we're not rebels" the horse thief a desperate, I tensed slightly, even as I got up, desperate men are often the most dangerous

"face you death with some courage thief" Ralof, who was behind me, sounded disparaging and annoyed, in front of us, were two legionnaires, one who seemed to be of a higher rank, a woman, she glanced at all of us, until she got to me, her eyes widened and then narrowed, her hand moved to her sword, internally I frowned, I had no idea who this woman was, nor why she had reacted that way to me, but not to Ulfric of Ralof, perhaps I had done something to her in the past. I was silent for a second waiting for the voice, which may have known, to break in, yet it did not.

"you've got to tell them. We work with you this is a mistake" I wasn't sure who the horse thief as talking to, but it wasn't me, so I ignored him

"step toward the block when we call your name" as did the woman "one at a time"

"empire loves their damn lists" Ralof sounded bitter

"Ulfric Stormcloak, Jarl of Windhelm" the soldier next to the woman marked something on his list as he called out the first name, Ulfric who was in front of me and therefore blocking my view moved towards the block, he gait was unbroken, but with an aura of the inevitable.

"it has been an honour, Jarl Ulfric" Ralof said as he walked, Ulfric paused slightly and nodded his head before continuing

"Ralof of Riverwood" Ralof walked without complaint

"Lokir of Rorikstead" the horse thief, now known as Lokir tensed and so did I, he was going to do something, run maybe? Or try to fight. He walked forward a few steps

"no, I'm not a rebel, you can't do this" then he ran, as fast as his bound hands allowed

"halt" the woman called after him, but she had already raised her hand for the archers to fire, betraying her thoughts, when he didn't stop he slashed her hand down and called out "archers"

without fuss three archers stationed along the road raised their bows and fired, three arrows protruded form his back when he fell, which was not unexpected, this far out without as many bandits, training and drills were about all they could do.

Th woman then turned her attention back to me "anyone else feel like running" only silence greeted her, and she grinned slightly. Her companion however was already back to his list

"wait, you there" he looked at me "step forward" I took a few steps forward, until I was just outside the range of an imperial word swung with a step forward "who are you?"

"Majolir" he wrote something down presumably my name race and defining characteristics

"getting away from the intrigue of court Breton? You picked a bad time to come to Skyrim." he turned to the woman "Captain what should we do? She's not on the list"

"forget the list, she goes to the block, first"

"by your orders captain. I'm sorry, I'll make sure your remains go to High Rock. Follow the captain prisoner" So I walked slowly, steadily to my death.

Once all the prisoners were arrayed around the block General Tullius stepped forward, he looked at me for a few seconds, confusion evident on his face, before turning to Ulfric

"Ulfric Stormcloak, some here in Helgen call you a hero, but a hero doesn't use a power like the voice to murder his king and usurp his throne" the voice, what was that, Nord magic?

_No_

"you started this war, plunged Skyrim into chaos and now the empire is going to put you down and restore the peace" then something, a sound unlike anything I had every heard before, everything even the horses were quiet and still

"what was that?" one of the soldiers asked, fear evident in his voice

"It's nothing, carry on" the general's answer was to quick for my liking

"yes, general Tullius" the woman from before answered him and...well it might technically have been a smile, but it was the smile of a dog before it pulled down a fox and hate was clear in her eyes "give them their last rites" a priestess stepped forward and raised her hands skyward

"as we commend your souls to Aetherius, blessing of the eight divines upon you..." she was cut off when a prisoner, one standing next to me, walked forward

"for the love of Talos, shut up and let's get this over with"

"as you wish" she lowered her hands and stepped back

"come on. I haven't got all morning" the legionary captain, spared me a single glance and then pushed the Nord to his knees, the executioner holding a massive axe stepped forward and she pushed his head against the block.

"my ancestors are smiling at me, imperials, can you say the same?" behind him the executioner brought his axe down with a thud and just like that the nameless Nord was dead, the legionary captain pushed his body off the block with her foot.

"you imperial bastards" a woman cried out behind me, wife perhaps?

"justice" a man said on my other side

"death to the storm-cloak's" an imperial answered them

"as fearless in death as he was in life" Ralof said softly

"next the Breton!" her eyes gleamed, frowning General Tullius stepped forward and opened his mouth to say something, when that...whatever it was roared again, louder this time, closer, all of us looked around for the source, I also spotted an Altmer, perhaps the Thalmor, make her way over to Tullius and whisper something to him, he looked like he was going to complain before acquiescing and moving away from our little party

"there it is again, did you hear that?" one of the nords said in wonder

"I said next prisoner" the woman was obviously not in the mood for slowness, she wanted me dead, for whatever reason that I couldn't discern. So I moved toward the block

"you'll pay for what you did to my beloved" she whispered to me, quietly enough that I was sure only I could hear her

"what d.." she silenced me by pushing me to my knees and forcing my head on the block, know all I could see was the tower and executioner, the n something caught in the corner of my eye, even as the executioner raised his axe. It roared and landed on the tower

"what in oblivion is that?" shock forced the words from an imperials lips.

it was a

_Dragon_.


	2. Chapter two 'fear' part one

Of Dragons & Daedra

Chapter Two: 'fight without training' Part One

It was bloody big.

Of everything I could have thought of in that moment the only thing that popped into my head was how big it looked, I shook myself and began analysing, it was black, about 25 feet long from what I could see and seemed to be staring at me.

My executioner, who had been lifting up the axe to sever my head looked around and was knocked over, behind me I had the feeling that their shock mirrored my own

"Dragon!" someone, a Nord from the accent, screamed and all hell broke loose, the dragon opened its mouth and words, in a language I had never heard before, poured out, the executioner, who had been getting to his feet was pushed back, and I felt what seemed like a great wind emanate form the dragon.

The prisoners, realising that this was a one in a lifetime opportunity to escape, took it, the guards most of whom had taken bows and arrows to shoot the dragon were to busy to stop them, I in a similar position rolled off the block and pushed myself to my feet, the dragon who almost seemed disappointed opened its mouth again, and I dived to the side, quite awkwardly as my hands were still bound, a Nord prisoner who hadn't been as quick was blown about 10 feet backwards into the stone of the towns walls.

The soldiers while obviously scared, had drawn their bows and began ineffectually shooting at the dragon, which drew open its wings and with a heave lifted off into the sky, I of course had no intention of fighting a dragon, and the chances of them letting me go even if I did, and won, were minuscule. I spotted several of the prisoners run for a tower, whether it would prove a safe haven for long was debatable, but it was better than out in the open, so I ran as fast as my still bound hands allowed me to, which was pretty slow.

Inside several people, mostly other prisoners were on the ground floor, one of them had been caught in one of the dragon's attacks and lay on a hastily made bed of straw while another tended to him, on the stairs was another man, who gestured to me

"hey, you, come up here and we'll see if there's a way out of here" I nodded and began climbing the stairs, while picking at the knot in the rope that bound my hands, he glanced at them "once we're out of the way I'll get your binds off" and then turned around leading the way up to the first floor, he, of course had already freed himself, or had another do it, and so was faster than I was, when he reached the top he surveyed the area

"damn, the top floor's be..." he was cut off when the entire tower shook and he was blasted back by the force of the dragon hitting the side, forming a massive hole, it then peered inside, I stumbled back a few steps, trying to get into the shadow, hoping against all hope that it wouldn't see me, the dragon looked around for a few seconds, and then opened it's mouth, again words in a language I could barely understand issued forth and the entire room was bathed in heat and light, even from where I was crouching the heat was short lived, but incredible, thankfully I wasn't looking or else I would have been blinded by the intensity of the light, this was no ordinary fire I could tell.

Then all of a sudden it was gone, launching itself up again, I cautiously made my way up, marvelling at how quickly the room had cooled, more magic perhaps? As the man had been about to say the top floor was blocked off by rubble, but the whole the dragon had made in the tower and another one in the building opposite meant I had away out, but with my bound hands it would not be easy, so I walked quite quickly to the other end of the floor, closed my eyes, took a deep breath and ran.

My run was not brilliant, nor particularly fast, but I jumped clean over the gap and into the other building, however I couldn't balance myself and hit the ground left arm first, a white hot pain crashed through my mind momentarily, the sharp _crack _as I landed that my mind had only just comprehended did not speak well for the state of mind arm, so gingerly I rolled onto my back, and surveyed the damage, my arm thankfully didn't appear to be broken, or at least not badly broken, which suggested a dislocation, as for how I knew this, I decided that fixing myself and escaping took precedence above figuring out my former life, at least that ice cold voice in my head hadn't spoken.

Magic, as I knew on some level, was very good was healing, broken bones, cuts and the like were easy to fix, a dislocation was more difficult, and required resetting it, and the fastest way, so long as the dislocation was clean and the joint not to badly damaged was to hit the dislocated limb with enough force to push it back into place, from the sound of fighting outside it seemed like I would have to do this quickly.

I carefully rolled onto my right side and used that to stand up, resolving to cut my binds as soon as possible, and walked over to the table just to my side and simply slammed down my left elbow, better to get it out of the way without thinking about it.

The pain was, as I had imagined, simply incredible and overwhelming, all my senses blanked out of a second, and I found myself on the floor tears rolling down my face, I hadn't screamed, or I didn't think I had, which was not something I had expected. Regardless the pain was a dull throb, but my field surgery seemed to have worked, so I took stock of my situation, I was in some kind of tavern, based on the number of bottles, both opened and unopened lying around, I was still recovering from resetting the joint, but aside form that had no injuries to speak of, and it seemed that for the time being that the guards were still fighting the dragon, therefore I would have no better chance of escaping the town.

So I, quite calmly considering the situation, walked through the tavern, down the stairs and out into the street, thankfully the dragon was on the other side of the town, the building in front of the tavern had been destroyed and debris littered the area, hiding behind the remains of a wall was a small boy and two men, one a prisoner and the other from the town, it was then that I spotted the hooks in the wall of the tavern, presumably to hang horse's reins up, while not sharp they would suffice to break my bonds.

Walking over to one, the most stable looking, I tested it out, finding that while it did move slightly it was only side to side, and would therefore suffice. So I lifted my bound hands above my head and brought them down on the hook, an unexpected and rather jagged edge of pain ran through my hand, apparently I had taken the skin off the side of my right hand, but I had broken the bonds.

The ground shook again and I looked around, the dragon had landed back on its original perch of the tower, though facing the other way, it seemed to be looking right at me, and I knew I had to escape, so I did across the open ground to a destroyed building and a stone wall which would hopefully protect me, I made it about two thirds of the way when it spoke the words and let forth a maelstrom of fire, acting purely on instinct I dived for the cover, stumbling slightly, but just about managing to escape a fiery death.

The dragon roared in what was unmistakeably frustration and launched itself into the air, it was obvious that I had to escape from the town if I had any hope of surviving, so I ran through the ruined building I was in, back into some kind of court yard, here not only were there imperial soldiers but also men dressed in what I presumed to be storm-cloak armour, neither side paid much attention to me, to busy fighting the dragon or dying. I spotted a fairly squat building made of stone which must have been the keep, this would not only be a relatively safe place to be, at least while the dragon was about, it would also have supplies; food, armour and weapons which I would need. I made my way through the courtyard sticking to the walls, and making a dash for the keep, which unfortunately was built into the other wall. The door was unlocked, so that wasn't an issue.

Inside the room was small and round, with only two entrances, one leading out into the courtyard and one on the opposite side leading further in, before I began however I noticed a table and the body of a storm-cloak soldier. I crept further in, whoever killed him may still be around so I was acutely aware of how exposed I was, when I reached him his, wounds suggested a short sword of some kind to his left side, moving quickly, conscious that someone was going to come through here eventually, I began divesting him of his armour, his helm, while open faced was perfectly adequate, if a little big. His armour proved to be more of a challenge, While I did not have a particularly voluptuous figure, my breasts were certainly too big for the armour, which meant I would have to go without until I found a women who would be willing to give me her armour...or was to busy dying, by my hand or another's, to care, still I could wear the armoured gloves without difficulty, I also found some septim's and most importantly an iron dagger and a short iron sword, plus a sheath for the sword, this is placed on my hips with the sword and carried the dagger.

I froze when I heard the door behind me open, I held myself still straining to hear the approaching footsteps

"Majolir?" the voice was unmistakeable, it was Ralof, the storm-cloak supporter from the carriage, I turned quickly, still holding the dagger, he was wearing slightly bloody storm-cloak armour and held a short sword

"I...yes" he walked towards the body and frowned

"a storm-cloak, what was he doing here?"

"rescuing Ulfric if I had to guess" he half nodded and then turned his attention to the other door

"check if he has any..."

"quiet" I hissed, I could hear something, people talking "someone's coming" he nodded and then moved back out of sight of the door, I could hear it clearly now, one I recognised the imperial that had ordered I be executed first

"and this wasn't...very well but this this dragon was not part of the plan" I held the dagger ready and he held his sword.

From the sound it seemed like there were two people coming, probably soldiers, given my lack of armour, or training, I would have to use surprise to make up the differential, From my hiding place I couldn't see exactly what was happening, but I heard the clunk of the lock and the creak as the metal groaned, I counted the steps, about 4 should be perfect

1...

2...

3...

Ralof, at that point decided, to hell with subtlety, and charged at one of the soldiers his sword held high, ready to bring down on their heads, both were momentarily surprised and I saw my moment, moving out at a steady jog across the 6 feet or so that separated me from them, I thought I was being stealthy, but the soldier I ad got, a smaller Nord, turned just in time, and, while unable to bring his sword to bear back handed me with his hand, his armoured gloved hand.

I stumbled back a few paces, my head hurting like someone was pounding my face with a hammer, he pulled his sword out and thrust, I clumsily side stepped him, barely able to tell where I was going, so I, due to a combination of bad luck and a lack of co-ordination found myself tripping over a fallen piece of stone, I landed on my back, on the other side of the room Ralof clashed, much more professionally, with the other soldier, ad was in no position to help me.

My attacker, perhaps surprised at how quickly I had fallen, walked up to me almost casually, and gave my side a good kick, I moaned in pain

"yer see, this is why women ain't meant to be on the battlefield" I remained silent as he almost idly considered Ralof and his fellow soldier fighting "and once she's done with yer boyfriend we're gonna cut yer up, nice and slow like" he moved around my prone form and I watched him carefully, I only had one chance.

The instant he was in place I attacked bringing my right leg around as fast as I could, catching him in the back of his knee, forcing it to buckle, then everything became a blur, like I knew the moves but didn't know when I learned them.

In one swift movement I I grabbed the back of his leather jerkin and pulled back hard, pulling him to the side of me, also on his back, then I grabbed his head in one hand, pulled it up, making sure to keep one knee on his sword hand, and then pushed it down on the stone floor, this I repeated for maybe 3 or 4 times, then I raised my dagger in my other hand, let go of his face and brought it down through his left eye, to finish him off I grabbed his opposite shoulder and making sure to keep a good grip on the dagger pulled it round as hard as I could, the crack as his neck broke was like music to me, it was something...intoxicating.

It was a that point that I came back to myself, holding a bloody and...various other bodily fluids coated dagger in one hand and the broken remains of what ha been, up until 10 seconds prior another human, I reflected that it probably should have affected me more, that maybe as a woman who had never, presumably, killed someone that maybe this wasn't quite the how I should be reacting.

"holy hell, what'd he do to you?" the tone was half joking to cover a very real sense of dread and fear, I turned to Ralof, who had finished off the woman soldier

"I...I don't know, one minute I was on the floor and the next..." I trailed off, gesturing at the bloody remains

"it was like you were possessed, you were moving far to naturally, like you'd done it your whole life"

"I...I know, but I've never killed anyone in my life, or at least I don't think so" he frowned at my words, and then walked over and pulled me up onto my feet

"what do you mean, you don't think so?"

"I can't remember anything before waking up on the ride here, vague flashes sensations maybe, but nothing solid"

"maybe a mage did it to you, I admit that I wouldn't know how to go around wiping someone's memory, but the synod, or maybe the college up in Winterhold might be able to" I looked up at him

"you think they might get my memories back?"

"maybe Majolir, maybe, but first let's get out of here" I nodded and walked over to Ralof's kill, form the look of her armour hse was more well endowed than I was, but it was definitely better than nothing, even better was that aside from a few marks t was in perfect condition, I slipped it off her quickly, more aware than ever that I wouldn't be long before more soldiers turn up, and then put it on.

Like I had guessed it wasn't a perfect fit, but the leather jerkin helped spread the weight and reduce the digging I that was inevitable with badly fitted armour, Ralof meanwhile was checking the corpse of my soldier for anything useful

"you ready Ralof?"

He grinned at me, giving him a slightly blood thirsty look "I think I am Majolir, I think I am"

**At this point I suppose I should be asking you to review, but quite frankly that would be extremely hypocritical of me. If you do review great and thank you, and if you don't, well, knowing that people are reading this is enough.**

**next chapter: Fight Without Training Part Two should be up by the 12/1/14**


	3. Chapter three 'fear' part two

**Please forgive any spelling and/or grammar mistakes, my computer is currently broken and writing this chapter on a phone is an...interesting challenge.**

**Also note that this won't follow how Helgen's keep is laid out in canon, partly this is to connect up the bits between player tutorials, and partly because I can't find any good videos of this part of the game.**

Of Dragons and Daedra

Chapter Three 'Fight without Training' part two

the outside world seemed oddly muted in the keep, I could hear men shouting and dying, I could hear the dragon roar and feel it when it landed, but it seemed so far away.

"let's go" I spoke almost without realising, Ralof had cleaned up a small cut on his arm, which I hadn't noticed at the time, when I spoke he looked up and nodded. the key which had been on a chain around the woman's neck was now in my hands, my dagger was in the other.

once both if us were through I turned and locked the door again, while this may have prevented other storm-cloaks or townsfolk from escaping, it also meant there was a decreased chance of being trapped by the empire's soldiers.

Immediately inside was a giant spiral staircase, Ralof probably should have led the way with his armour, training and weapon, but I was definitely the sneakier and with my empire armour I had a greater chance of getting in close before the soldiers we would undoubtedly encounter. all along the sides were lit torches and also baskets, I experimentally opened one and found it filled with apples I took two and tossed another at Ralof, I wasn't sure how long it had been since either of us had eaten, but a little food never hurt anyone. However I realised that I lacked a place to store the Apple and therefore made it a priority to find a bag of some sorts.

After about a half minute we were at the bottom of the stairs I was on the corner just out of sight, with Ralof just behind me, I could hear voices, at least two, both men, they were walking away from us.

"two soldiers, moving away from us" I whispered as quietly as I could, he nodded almost imperceptibly and I slowly inched out to fry a better view, we were at the end of a long straight corridor, but a bare 10 feet away from a door.

"10 feet door" he nodded then frowned slightly and made a gesture like he wad twisting something

"what?" he sighed slightly at my whispered question

"is it locked?" I glared at him

"how am I meant to tell that?" he raised his hands up in surrender

"I'll give it a try" he opened his mouth to say something, then closed it and gripped his weapon tightly

"be quick" I nodded and slipped out from out hiding place, the two soldiers I had identified were about twenty feet from me engrossed in conversation, I reached the door smoothly, and placed one hand against it, the wood was solid, oak maybe, and the lock though old, was in good condition, and almost certainly locked, it wasn't something that I could explain but I knew that it was locked

"storm-cloak!" one of the soldiers in the corridor shouted shocking me, then A massive thud, the Dragon must have landed on top of us, and the corridor simply caved in, taking the guards with it.

That was when I felt the crash id armoured boots just on the other side of the door.

the next thing I knew I had crashed against the opposite wall, and three empire soldiers had emerged, I blinked as stars danced before my eyes, I heard another set of boots most likely Ralof

"Majolir!" it was at that point that I noticed a bear of a man, easily six foot bearing down on me, a two handed sword ready to strike me.

That was when, like before, that something inside me took over, I raised my left, and dominant hand, which was encased in black writhing tentacles, and the tentacles lashed out, catching the man in the face, though rather than kill him, made him stop, his face was contorted in rage and pain, his mouth working like he was shouting but no words came out. I grinned, this was exhausting but exhilarating, with a flicker of her thought he knew that he had to release his fellows of life, then himself.

Neither of his fellow soldiers expected it when he brought down his mighty steel sword on the left most soldier, both had been dealing with Ralof, all three of them looked surprised, but Ralof wasted no time, swiftly executing the other soldier, while the original with his two handed sword drew a dagger across his neck and collapsed.

Without a host the tentacles, which had covered his face dispersed and I collapsed against the wall, my strength gone.

_Next time, you will not be so lucky_

I vaguely felt Ralof next to me saying something, though it all felt so far away, like he was shouting through a gale, I could hear my heartbeat in my ears, so far away

"gods damn it, stay with me" he slapped me, for a moment it didn't register then I felt the sting, he pulled out something red and pushed it into my mouth, it tasted...bitter perhaps I couldn't tell, it didn't matter.

The world suddenly focused again, my hearing was clear, a healing potion definitely.

that was close

a few more seconds and I would have died

"Majolir?" I turned my gaze on Ralof, who stared back at me, worried, yet also afraid

"I...I'm fine, I think" Shakily I got up on my feet, holding the wall for support

"what was that?" he definitely sounded scared

"I'm not sure, one minute I was about to die the next he turned and killed his fellows, it was like an instinct"

"hmm, well next time just roll out of the way, next time you might not be so lucky" he turned around, and just in time to avoid seeing my face drop, did he know? Had he heard the voice, whatever it was.

"the whole corridors caved in, I think, but at the very least wherever these lot" he nudges on one the dead soldiers "came from has to have something we can use, right? Maybe even a potion you can use"

I knelt down next to the body of my attacker, while he went through the doorway, rifling through his pockets produced a few septim's, dutifully pocketed, a cleaning rag and a small bottle of cleaning oil, additionally I found a key and added it to the chain I had on. His fellow soldiers had little else on them, though a bottle of healing potion was a welcome sight.

Before I went through the doorway to rejoin Ralof I positioned the bodies in such a way as to look like they had been killed by the cave-in, then slipped into the room with Ralof. It was about 10 foot by 10 foot and on one side was a small fire and 3 cages, Ralof looked up as I entered

"Majolir, those three cages are locked, did you find the key?" I nodded, but my eyes wandered to a small table, surrounded by three chairs, all of the whom had been flung back a few feet, on it were a few more septim's, and a set of lock picks, I gathered up both, and then rolled out the lock picks, it held 10 picks, of varying shapes and lengths, and a larger pick, the set wasn't even half complete, but it would hopefully work well enough for now.

"you used lock picks before?" Ralof asked

"maybe, it looks familiar" I moved over to the first cage, inside was very little, but it wasn't that which drove me to try, I got out the large tool and worked it into the bottom of the lock, then surveyed it critically, it was fairly small, and couldn't be very complicated, so I pulled out my third smallest pick and worked it into the top, I twisted it around, straining my ears to hear the mechanism, I moved the pick experimentally and the lock gave, slightly, I moved it slowly around then gave it another twist, it went further this time, almost unlocked, so another smaller movement, then a twist, the lock clunked slightly, and I was rewarded with the door opening. Hopefully they had been lazy and only used the same key for all of them.

The next cage had the remains of a human in them, he had robes on, and a book, again I inserted first the large pick, then my third smallest, moving it around quickly, and twisting, as I had hoped the lock gave quickly, I had been right about the soldier's, or perhaps the locksmith's laziness, I gathered up both the book and the robes, which, despite being worn and tattered held a magical...resonance perhaps, I couldn't explain what but they felt magical.

The final lock gave as easily as the other, inside was only the remains of a rat, so I turned my attention back to the rest of the room, on another table lay a set of potions, both of healing and of magicka, I picked up the healing potion and drank the potion of magicka, allowing the power to wash over me, the rest of the room was quite Spartan, however I did find a fairly large leather bag, into which I put the book, robes, cleaning materials and the short sword.

"you ready?" I glanced at Ralof, who gestured at small door, on the opposite side from which we entered, I pulled out my dagger and, after giving it a quick wipe with my cloth, nodded. Allowing him to lead the way this time.

We must have been in a small prison complex, as we passed down a corridor on either side were cells, Ralof led the way holding a torch aloft, illuminating the squalid conditions.

At the far end was another door, it appeared to be banded in iron and the lock would redoubtably be hard to pick

"Giron, is it time yet?" both of us froze at the man's voice, it was coming from the locked room, then started backing away as the sound of footsteps echoes closer, back into the small slope of the nearest cell, I heard he sound of the door opening and someone sighing "they've left the door open again, the captain's gonna have their ass if they keep this up." then the sound of footsteps, as the man marched down the corridor, I held out my dagger and Ralof nodded.

When the man had marched past our hiding place I crept out and crouch walked as quietly as I could, until I was just behind him, then leapt up, my hand wrapped around his mouth and slide my dagger across his neck. He struggled for a few seconds then slowly stopped, once I had dragged his body into another opening, and out of sight, I rejoined Ralof

"Smoothly done Maj, you don't mind if I call you Maj do you?" I shrugged, it didn't really matter to me.

"I'll move up, and see how many we're facing" then moved out of our hiding place, creeping down the corridor, when I reached the door I looked through the key hole, it was dark, much darker than I had expected, but I could make out a few tables, small objects scattered across them, I couldn't see anyone else, but I heard heavy breathing, but there could be more. Slowly, painfully aware of how close I was to them, I made my way back to Ralof

"at least one, maybe more, I couldn't see them" he nodded at the news, then responded

"I kick the door down, you follow" I mulled it over for a few seconds before nodding, he was the warrior of the group, and it made sense for him to get in as quickly as possible.

Both of us were as quiet as possible, it wouldn't be long before they realised their fellow solider hadn't come back, so we would have to move quickly, however

"I hear someone running running, more than one" Ralof said urgently, then moved even more quickly, now I could hear it as well, then shouting, Ralof got up and kicked down the door bursting in, I too got up and ran in, dagger ready.

Inside three empire soldiers lay dead, and two storm-cloaks held their weapons ready, one, the female dropped hers when she saw us, or more specifically Ralof

"Ralof? We...we thought" she trailed off, her companion, a big brutish looking Nord seemed to be sizing me up

"we were lucky to get away, there's a dragon attacking" she gaped in shocking

"A dragon? Here?" Ralof nodded almost calmly "why?"

"I don't know, but I don't like it. Is Ulfric with you?"

"No, we're the only ones that came up this way" Ralof frowned slightly, his hands dipped into the legionnaires pockets

"Maybe he went with the others" the brutish Nord turned to look at Ralof

"Others?" Ralof glanced at him

"the other storm-cloaks, who attacked the town"

"Ralof, there were no other storm-cloaks, we were scouting this way in preparation for about twenty more to follow" the woman answered

"we saw them, on the way here, I'm sure they were storm-cloaks"

"definitely weren't, that much I can tell you, and who's yer friend?" she turned her attention to me, measuring me up

"Majolir" I answered

"Can we trust her?" she never took her eyes off of me, and I belatedly noticed hadn't sheathed her sword

"Her head was on the chopping block when the dragon attacked"

"Hmphh, so what?"

"she was seconds away from being executed, and not even the empire can get information from dead men, besides we're all in this together now" she studied me for a few more seconds before returning again to Ralof

"you're too trusting Ralof, but..." she sighed "I've got my eye on you breton" she stalked over to the far door, the man narrowed his eyes at me, but seemed content to let me be.

I watched her wander over to the dead bodies, her questing fingers methodologically search them for valuables, she seemed to be in her own world, like she had been for there entire time together, Anisa didn't like her, and I could hardly blame her, Majolir held herself so tightly, so still it was almost as though she wasn't breathing, the skill was something that took time to learn, and the way she moved, executed her attackers with quick flashes of brutality made me suspect that she had been a part of the Dark Brotherhood. Jurgen took a more philosophical approach to her, though he was always a man of the now, she hadn't tried to hurt him, so he was prepared to live and let live, besides this was hardly a situation where beggars could be choosers.

Majolir rose gracefully, like a dancer really, Anisa shifted uncomfortably, she was a ranged combatant, and damn good as well, but the restricted sight lines got to her, more than she perhaps, thought she let on.

"shall we go?" the question was quiet, but carried through the room, Majolir, who had been putting bit and pieces in her leather satchel, looked up at Anisa, then me, before nodding.

Jurgen took the lead this time, I followed in his shadow, with Majolir just behind me and Anisa brining up the rear, bow strung and arrow knocked. We moved quickly, as the path had already been cleared, though we stopped to pilfer and loot supplies, Majolir in particular found a long bow and a quiver of arrows, while I got a very nice steel sword from a dead legionnaire. Then we found ourselves in a cave system, and I was unprepared for just how dark it was, though I noticed that Majolir seemed to be almost preternaturally ware of obstacles, and had no difficulty traversing the rocky area we found ourself in.

This continued for another five maybe ten minutes, time lost all meaning in the dark, until I rounded a corner and found myself blinking at the bright light at the end of the tunnel.

**Ok, first up thank you to Iron Stag for your review, hopefully I cleared everything up as best I could, if not don't hesitate to PM me.**

**As ever reviews are very much appreciated, and I'll try to respond to any questions promptly.**

**Second, sorry for being two days late wit this chapter, life (and university) is a bitch sometimes, the next chapter should be up by Sunday 19th January.**

**That clears up every pressing issue, everything below this is more for my benefit, but is an examination into how the mechanics of Skyrim, particularly magic, differ in Of Dragon and Daedra, and TES: Skyrim.**

**Magicka is, essentially, energy, which passes through Mundus's sun, or depending on your interpretation, is coming from the sun, when a spell is cast this energy, which is stored in the mages body, is expelled is various forms, dictated by the will, skill, and a host of other factors, as this reserve is used up, the casters body being re-absorbing energy from Mundus's sun, or the ambient energy around them, obviously if the caster is underground, then no more magical energy can be absorbed from Mundus's sun, and absorbing ambient energy relies on their being a temperature difference, specifically that the mages body is of a lower temperature than that of the mages surroundings, the greater the difference the faster the rate of energy transfer (this, IRL, is the basis of most forms of electrical power generation). In cases where neither option is available (such as with Majolir's case, where she is in an artificial cave system, which is colder than she is) then if additional energy is required (again as in Majolir's case) then the energy is siphoned off of the mages physical energy reserves (fat, sugars, carbohydrates etc) (which in TES: Skyrim, is represented as stamina) if this is still not enough then life force (which in TES: skyrim is represented as health) is also siphoned, if this is not enough then the caster dies, and a spell, once formed, cannot be stopped by the caster, though the energy can be gathered and held ready for use without ill effect, as additional energy can be siphoned as it is available, and can be released without creating the spell at any time, only once cast is it irreversible. **

**In ODD it is, barring a few exceptional circumstances, impossible to increase the amount of magicka a person can have in their body at any given time, and it is, again barring a few exceptional circumstances, 100 magicka, however as a mage cast a spell they gain an understanding of the spell, they learn how to better control the spell, so that they energy matrix they use is more efficient, or it is directed to a smaller area, which naturally uses less energy, though requires more concentration and experience on the mages part. There are also more general techniques and exercises a mage can perform that increase there efficiency in broader terms. **

**also a note on units, in ODD, magicka units (Mu) is the standard measurement of this potential magicka energy (pMe) (although there are others), a mage without training (like Majolir) can convert 1 stamina unit into 0.75 Mu, and 1 health unit into 2 Mu, therefore with 100Mu/100 health/100 stamina, she could provide (100 + (100 * 0.75) + (100 * 2)) = 375 Mu in total, though of course only 373Mu is available.**

**To give an example Majolir had 100 health/100 Mu/100 stamina, she cast Dominate Mind which she had never cast before, which is an illusion type spell, which is not a school she had mastered. The cost for Dominate Mind is 325 Mu, therefore she uses all 100Mu she had in reserve (325 Mu – 100 Mu = 225 Mu), so she also uses her entire stamina reserve (225 Mu – (100 S * 0.75) = 150 Mu), and then her life force reserve (150 Mu – (75 h * 2) = 0) which leaves her with (100 h – 75 h = 25 h) 25 health/0 Mu/0 stamina.**

**However let us also consider an alternate scenario, wherein Majolir has 100 health/100 mu/100 stamina, but has cast Dominate Mind 5 times before and is considered a novice (rank one) with illusion magic (mastery of schools and spells, plus the formula for working out the associated decrease in spell cost, is something I will address in the future) for our purposes assume that casting dominate mind lowers the cost of casting the spell by 5 Mu each (5 * 5 Mu = 25 Mu) and that being a novice caster of illusion magic confers a 5% decrease to the cost of casting Dominate Mind, for our purposes non-specific bonuses, like novice mastery of illusion magic, is applied first (325 Mu * 0.95 = 308.75 Mu) if the result is a decimal, as it is here always round up to the nearest whole number (308.75 Mu rounded up to the nearest number = 309 Mu), then specific bonuses, like her casting Dominate Mind five times (309 Mu – 25 Mu = 284 Mu) therefore it would cost her 284 Mu to cast Dominate Mind, which would leave her with ((284 Mu – 100 Mu) = 184 Mu – (100 S * 0.75) = 109 Mu – (54.5 h * 2)) 45 health/0 Mu/0 stamina.**

**Finally, please note the naming conventions, health can be represented as a h, stamina as an S, and Magicka units as Mu, and is typically represented as x health/y Mu/z stamina, or in short hand x h/y Mu/z S.**

**Majolir stats**

**Health: 100**

**Magicka: 100**

**Stamina: 100**

**Majolir Perks**

**None**

**Majolir spells**

**(spell name, spell school, mastery, cost (without perks, mastery or cost decrease associated with casting the spell), number of times cast)**

**dominate mind, illusion, master, 325 Mu, 1**

**heal, restoration, novice, 2 Mu = 1 h, 0**

**flames, destruction, novice, 16 Mu/s, 0**

**Majolir Inventory**

**(e denotes worn)**

**138 septims**

**Imperial light armour (woman) e**

**iron dagger e**

**iron sword**

**armoured gloves e**

**iron helm (open) e**

**weapon cleaning materials**

**2 minor health potions**

**10 lockpicks**

**mages robes**

**spell book (sparks)**

**longbow**

**13 iron arrows**


	4. Chapter four 'tiredness'

Of Dragons and Daedra

Chapter Four: 'March without Leaders'

Jurgen led the way out of the cave, into the blinding daylight, the small trail wound down the hill they had come out onto, as was typical for most of Skyrim, mountains dominated the vista, one, with what appeared to be massive ruins on top, appeared to be quite close, while a group was visible to the left of it, though further away.

The hill was lightly wooded on either side, and surprisingly cold, given how close it was to the Cyrodiil border. My armour, while good at deflecting swords, was little use at stopping the icy winds, behind me Ralof and Anisa walked out of the cave, blinking at the sudden increase in light.

"Riverwood is not to far from here, my sister Gerdur, may be able to help us" Ralof said, sitting down on a nearby rock, Anisa turned to look at him, after surveying the landscape for threats

"hmm, there may be other survivors, plus the rest of our contingent, I'll go and see if they found anyone, Jurgen, stay here out of sight, if any Stormcloak's come through make sure to direct them to our camp, if they're imperials or civilians make sure you're not seen, got it?"

"But, if they're imperials..." Jurgen frowned at the thought

"they're sure to have friend's and we need as many people as possible alive, to break through back to the rift" Anisa stopped, considering the situation, before nodding "yes, that'll work, Ralof you're with me"

"hold on a minute Anisa, I'm going to Riverwood, I've got to warn them, if that dragon attacks..." she almost sighed, almost "hmm...yes, fine, we've got" Anisa glanced at me, though for only a split second "enough men to get back to the rift without you, who knows maybe Balgruuf will appreciate the warning, especially if it comes from a Stormcloak, but hurry back as soon as the message is delivered, we need all the able bodied men we can get" Ralof nodded and then opened his mouth to say something when

"down" I hissed, instinct overtaking me, just for an instant they froze, then followed my example as I flung myself behind some rocks, Ralof close behind me, Jurgen moved back into the darkness of the cave, and Anisa blended into the grass and heather with an ease that amased me.

My instincts were answered moments later when a...the dragon roared, sending birds this way and that in a bid to escape, for a few seconds that was the only movement, then it flew overhead, even at the great height it had attained, the grass and trees blew from the force its wings could produce, none of us so much as blinked while it was in sight, it continued north, then angled itself slightly east and disappeared from view. We stayed hidden for about 30 seconds, in case the dragon came back, fortunately it didn't and we moved, fairly slowly, out of our hiding spots.

"that...that was the dragon" Anisa sounded shaken, maybe she didn't really believe that there had been a dragon, or perhaps she hadn't thought through exactly how powerful, fearsome one was.

"aye, it was heading north to Riverwood...and Whiterun, they'd never stand a chance against it, it shrugged off arrows like they were nothing" she nodded at that, but it was obvious that she was thinking hard.

"right, no-ones come out this way, and if it was leaving, it's probable that it finished with the town, Jurgen, you know the way back to the rift don't you?" he nodded in agreement, his hand still on his axe "good, I know it's hard, but I need you to get back to Riften, and then ride straight to Windhelm, they need to know what happened here. I'll find the rest of my contingent, it's likely that the imperials will move to block off the route, one man" she gestured at Jurgen "may get through, but a group the size of ours would have to fight, so we'll hide out here for a few days or so, then head back going the other way around the mountain" Ralof nodded then turned to me

"come with me, Majolir, Riverwood is not far" I held his gaze for a few seconds, weighing up my options, then nodded, it wasn't as though I had any clue where to go, and travelling with a partner is always safer...unless your partner was a bandit of course.

Confident that Ralof was unlikely to be a bandit, I nodded again "sure, we need to warn them"

satisfied Ralof turned to Anisa "stay safe out there, I've a feeling that that dragon was only the first. You too Jurgen, it'll be a long war no matter what, we'll need you, both of you" both of them nodded, their faces grave, as though one dragon was the end of the world, sure they were powerful, that much was obvious, but with a well-trained force, who knew what to expect, rather than at least two...three if you counted the local guard contingent, disparate forces, all of who were fighting each other as well as the dragon, then dealing with it should be relatively straight forward, add in some mages, and hopefully it would be killed in short order.

Hopefully without getting an unknown Breton who just so happened to be in wrong place killed at the same time.

The conversation died a natural death after that, Jurgen set off with his usual thundering steps east, and Anisa headed west, I walked up to Ralof, who was still watching the skyline, almost like he was waiting for the dragon to come back

"are we going?" he shook out of his reverie, threw a quick smile at me and set off down the pat, his sword held at the ready.

"you ever been to Skyrim before, Maj?" Ralof asked, he kept his guard up and his eyes on road ahead, but he sounded generally curious

"I..." I faltered, it felt like I had, but I could not remember it "no, nothing I can remember"

"A pity, still it means I can show you its wonders anew" In that moment, he sounded like a small boy, showing me something he had found under a rock.

"such as?" I was playing for time with that one, he was intent upon talking, and for some reason a part of me felt incredibly uncomfortable about talking, but I was also curious, this was a new world for me, having some like him, knowledgeable about Skyrim, was very useful.

"well, how about the guardian stones" by now we were about half way between the cliff side we had come out at and the very bottom of the valley, and the straight, if steep, path we had been travelling along was about to turn into a less steep, but sharply cornered path.

"guardian stones?" he said nothing, but smiled and beckoned me to follow him.

The reason became clear when we turned the first corner and I saw three massive standing stones, I glanced at Ralof, who merely gestured grandly at them.

"like I said, the guardian stones"

"uh-uh" I was barely listening to him, something about them was drawing my attention, I could barely look away from them "and these stones, do what, exactly?"

"err...nothing, as far as I know, the college seems to think that they were used as...something, to be honest I don't remember what, but Ulfric sure was interested in them, in fact he even..." he trailed off, looking uncomfortable.

There was something about these stones, I was sure of it, walking towards them, it felt...cold, not a physical cold, but something that chilled me to my bones. I reached out to the nearest one, I couldn't even think it was so cold. Something was on my back, the child, perhaps...

I touched the stone, and something in the stone, and something in me rushed out, the emptiness caused me to stagger back, and just like that the cold stopped, like it had never been. I fell to my knees, exhausted. Ralof was talking quickly, something I could not make out, his hands were grabbing something in my satchel, I felt something slide down my throat, the gag reflex oddly absent, and then I felt the magic course its way through me.

"what...what was that, Majolir?" Ralof, as one would expect sounded intensely worried, he held out one of his arms, which I took and used to rise to my feet

"I don't know, there is something in those stones though, something powerful, I felt my soul...reach out, be sucked away, somehow" the colour drained form his face "if I hadn't let go I think it would have done so"

"by the nine, what magic could do this?" I shook my head, such things were beyond me "I would not linger here, Majolir, there is something at work here I want to no part in, and if you have any sense you would would not either, Riverwood is not far now" as he spoke I regained my breath, and I felt my eyes slowly being drawn back to the stones

"let us go then" he glanced at me questioningly, but knew better than to argue.

We moved faster this time, I was eager to get away and he was eager to reach the relative safety of the town. Things were going smoothly, to smoothly when the howls of a wolf, or maybe a group of them, made us stop in our tracks, I withdrew my dagger, and focused on heat, all encompassing burning, I felt the energy and I pushed it together felt it coalesce, into a small ball of fire, my eyes, which had been closed to focus on forming the spell, snapped open as a wolf leapt at me, I ducked, keeping my dagger and flames close, and watched as it sailed over me, stumbling at the unexpected landing, I released the flames, feeding and pushing them outwards towards the wolf, its fur, surprisingly did not catch on fire as I expected it would, so I pushed even harder, the flames roared and the beast howled pitifully in pain, despite this it was not dead and I felt my magicka reserve run low, so I ended the spell and rushed towards it, raising the dagger up and in a swift motion sliced the wolf's neck open.

"Majolir!" I half turned, just in time to see a second wolf leap at me, this time it was aiming lower, so I couldn't duck out of the way, all I could do was position my arm so that it was in the way, instead of my neck. The wolf was a lot heavier than I anticipated, an it sent me stumbling back, falling n my back with an incredibly undignified cry, still I grasped my dagger and thrust it into the beasts underbelly, the whole of pain told me I'd hit a weak spot, so I pulled it out and stabbed again, and again, until it stopped moving.

With a groan I shifted its weight off me, and set about removing my arm, which hurt quite a bit, from its jaw, when it proved to be locked in place, I severed the ligaments from the joint attaching the lower jaw to the skull, and simply pulled

for a second everything was white, pain was my entire existence, but I knew I had to fight through it, and so I focused on the other spell I knew, heal, the energy, which had come rushing back, formed in my fingers, it felt, strange. When I pushed the energy into my wounds I knew why, it felt like a hundred or maybe a thousand of tiny fingers pushing themselves into my wounds, reattaching muscle and mending bone.

The entire process took about a minute, and when it was finished I was absolutely exhausted, but the arm looked like it had never been bitten. It was at that point that I realised I'd left Ralof to fend off however many of the beasts hadn't gone for me, as I looked over I expected the worst, instead Ralof was quite calmly cleaning his weapon, the bodies of two dead wolves testament to his victory.

When I reached him he looked up, he was clearly worried, though he forced himself not to give me the once over "no problems?"

"no, though the second one did give me a bit of a wound"

"so I saw, but I didn't want to disturb you while you were healing, it's alright I hope" I showed him the unblemished arm and he visibly relaxed

"good, good" he stood up and gestured onwards "come on, like I said it isn't far"

True to his word, almost literally around the next bend was the town of Riverwood, though calling it a town was a little...optimistic, to our left was a small smithy, and to our right was a store, beyond that was an inn, that seemed to be it, before I could go anywhere Ralof led me down a small alleyway between the general store and the town wall

"for now we'll have to be quite, I'll see if I can't talk to Gerdur without anyone else spotting us, for now it's best if you're simply a run of the mill wanderer, you have gold right?" I nodded and jangled the small coin purse "good, go to the inn, rent a room, and get some sleep, you look awful, if I'm successful Gerdur will wake you up in a few hours" with that, he stole around the side of the wall and disappeared. I sighed once and checked to make sure no one was looking before I too came out of the alleyway, fortunately for me, the street was deserted.

As was the Sleeping Giant Inn, aside from a man who stunk of mead to the point that I could smell him from across the room, the only people were its proprietors, who appeared to be in the middle of an argument, rather than interrupt, and draw attention to myself, I chose to watch the flickering of the fire, and let the waves of heat wash over me, soothing my aching bones, I snorted, broken from my reverie 'aching bones' I wasn't that old!

"can I help you?" I turned to face one of the owners, the man she had been arguing stood behind the counter, washing a tankard

"yes, how much is a room?" she gave me a once over, like she was weighing me up

"10 gold a night, and no funny business"

"of course" I trailed off, while reaching to pull out the requisite coins

"Delphine" I handed her the coins, and she considered them for a second, then shoved them in a pocket "come, I'll show you your room"

she showed my to the room at the far end, on the same side as the entrance, inside wa sa bed, a chest, a set of drawers and little else

"you need anything just holler" she nodded a few times, making sure everything was I order, then left, closing the door behind her.

Almost the second she left I began undressing, while I wanted as much sleep as I could afford, sleeping in armour would be a regrettable, and novice, mistake. I almost threw the slightly battered imperial armour in the chest and collapsed on the bed, my eyes closed and dreams overtook me.

Which was a regrettable mistake on my part.

**Okay, I did intend for the dream sequence to be a part of this, but I had to get something out of the door, before inspiration lost me entirely, therefore the next chapter, will be solely about her dream, and considerably shorter than this one, hopefully I will get it out before the end of the week, but promises and me juts don't get along.**

**As ever reviews are welcomed, even just 'great', or 'shit', though I would like some constructive criticism, I am well aware that my penchant for run on sentences and lack of humanity my characters experience is less than ideal, but I'm working on it, slowly.**

**Majolir stats**

**Health: 100**

**Magicka: 100**

**Stamina: 100**

**Majolir Perks**

**None**

**Majolir spells**

**(spell name, spell school, mastery, cost (without perks, mastery or cost decrease associated with casting the spell), number of times cast)**

**dominate mind, illusion, master, 325 Mu, 1**

**heal, restoration, novice, 2 Mu = 1 h, 1**

**flames, destruction, novice, 16 Mu/s, 1**

**Majolir Inventory**

**(e denotes worn)**

**138 septims**

**Imperial light armour (woman) e**

**iron dagger e**

**iron sword**

**armoured gloves e**

**iron helm (open) e**

**weapon cleaning materials**

**1 minor health potions**

**10 lockpicks**

**mages robes**

**spell book (sparks)**

**longbow**

**13 iron arrows**


	5. Chapter five 'Of those without'

Of Dragons and Daedra

Chapter 5: Interlude 'of those without'

it wasn't real.

It wasn't real!

It wasn't real, was it?

It was.

My mind crowed, battling desperately against the grim reality pressed hard against me, whatever it might say though, I knew it was real.

The images were disjointed, if they were mine or not I could not tell, Altmer, Imperial Legionnaires, magic cast, and desperate improvisation.

Then it came to me

I was atop a white tower, the world arrayed around me, wrapped around and above the heavens themselves opened before me, the stars black on a black backdrop, cold and grim.

Crash

a dragon came before me, standing on the side of the tower looked down and into my eye and barked like an owl...or was it a rose bush?

I reached out and touched the dragon on its shoulder, gazing past it, into the void between the stars

Dragon I whispered, yet the words did not pass my throat, caught as they were and whisked away to parts unknown

you are... I was unsure how to proceed, the dragon merely nodded, moving its head inside out

its body slowly unfurled, revealing a blinding purple light, the darkness overwhelming my sight, and yet not.

Before me, below and aside, was me, it was me, yet I was different, cold, and armour was black, harsh and granite like, the mask turned and I could see inside it, all it's working, of hours poured out like a wine, and sweat eaten into the forge, the magic's and machination's of small, dark cold elves.

This armour was mine, of mine own hand, yet the hand was different, it had 5 fingers, or 4, and was green, black and a host of other colours. The plans were created and then, iced over, cold and forgotten.

_It is in remembering that we find our worth._

The words echoed, twisting and hissing around me, dragging me down, across the heavens.

"Maj? Majolir?" I gasped, grabbing my dagger and pushing blindly against the man leaning over my bed.

**Ok, I lied, I do that a lot. Now seriously is my writing that bad (or perhaps worse, that mediocre) that you cannot find it in yourselves to write a small review? I won't (or can't) beg, but seeing a new email in my review folder really does encourage me (unless it's another damn email from ign that has the word review in the title, stupid auto-sort rules).**

**Anyway, I know it's not as lengthy as my other chapters, but perhaps having shorter chapters would help, given that it's taken me 4 chapters, plus prologue just to get to Riverwood, again review and respond, your views really can change things.**

**Also before I get any reviews about how it doesn't make sense, bear in mind that this is a dream sequence, things don't make sense, but that this is quite an important chapter that sets up at least 2 plot points (any maybe more :P).**

**see you in two weeks (hopefully less)**

**Majolir stats**

**Health: 100**

**Magicka: 100**

**Stamina: 100**

**Majolir Perks**

**None**

**Majolir spells**

**(spell name, spell school, mastery, cost (without perks, mastery or cost decrease associated with casting the spell), number of times cast)**

**dominate mind, illusion, master, 325 Mu, 1**

**heal, restoration, novice, 2 Mu = 1 h, 1**

**flames, destruction, novice, 16 Mu/s, 1**

**Majolir Inventory**

**(e denotes worn)**

**138 septims**

**Imperial light armour (woman) e**

**iron dagger e**

**iron sword**

**armoured gloves e**

**iron helm (open) e**

**weapon cleaning materials**

**1 minor health potions**

**10 lockpicks**

**mages robes**

**spell book (sparks)**

**longbow**

**13 iron arrows**


End file.
